Chelsea's new coach Sarri debuts with 1-0 win in friendly match

Chelsea's new head coach Maurizio Sarri debuted with a 1-0 win on Monday in a friendly match against Australia's Perth Glory, thanks to an early goal from Spanish forward Pedro Rodriguez.

Rodriguez scored in the fifth minute, but Perth held their own after that and even threatened to score a late equaliser, reports Efe.

"I am satisfied by the performance in the first half and the first 15 minutes of the second half, not the last 30 minutes," Sarri said after the win, according to the 2018 FA Cup-winning club's website.

"We lost the distance between the defenders and the midfielders, but we know we have to work. We have to go back to Cobham and work very hard. We know we have to improve very quickly," the Italian coach added.

"I expect us to improve match by match. It's not easy at this moment because we are without 12 players from the World Cup," he added.

Chelsea had to make do without their 2018 FIFA World Cup players, including N'Golo Kante, Olivier Giroud, Thibaut Courtois, Eden Hazard and Willian, who were still resting up after doing international duty in Russia.

Nevertheless, Monday's game gave Sarri a chance to test Chelsea's newly-signed Brazilian midfielder Jorginho and midfielder Ross Barkley.

Chelsea's next pre-season game will be on Saturday against Inter Milan in Nice.

--IANS

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